Marconi Conference Center

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=467 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomales_Bay#Marconi_Conference_Center The Marconi Conference Center is situated on wooded hills overlooking scenic Tomales Bay in Marin County. The site preserves a small hotel built by Guglielmo Marconi in 1913 to house personnel who staffed his transpacific radio receiver station nearby. The California State Parks Foundation acquired the property in 1984 with Buck Trust funds, remodeled it as a conference center, and gave it to the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

Marconi Conference Center State Historic Park Our Mission The mission of California State Parks is to provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. History and nature blend seamlessly at the Marconi Conference Center State Historic Park, where native Coast Miwok, global radio communication, California State Parks supports equal access. Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the park at (415) 663-9020. This publication can be made available in alternate formats. Contact interp@parks.ca.gov or call (916) 654-2249. CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov Discover the many states of California.™ Marconi Conference Center State Historic Park 18500 State Highway One Marshall, CA 94940 (415) 663-9020 www.parks.ca.gov/marconi © 2014 California State Parks and a controversial cult have each left their mark. T his bayside retreat in northern Marin County has a rich and controversial history. Originally occupied by Coast Miwok people, the site was then chosen as part of a history-making global communication chain. Seven of Marconi Conference Center State Historic Park’s 62 acres have been designated a historic district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The site later became world headquarters to a renowned cult, best known for its tough-love drug rehabilitation and an attempted murder. Today, it is a popular conference center and meeting place. The park enjoys a Mediterranean climate: pleasant springtimes and autumns followed by cool, wet winters. Low-lying fog and offshore breezes from the northwest moderate the summer heat. Park history Coast Miwok The indigenous Coast Miwok lived in the area of Tomales Bay for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. When English explorer Francis Drake landed on the Marin peninsula in 1579, the chaplain of his Golden Hind galleon noted the friendliness of the native people in his diary. The Miwok’s second European encounter came in 1595. Captain Sebastian Cermeño’s Manila galleon, the San Agustin, sank in what is now called Drake’s Bay with a cargo of Ming Dynasty porcelain. The wreckage is thought to be buried beneath the bay. The local Coast Miwok retrieved and used pieces of the Ming porcelain for tools and ornaments; shards of it wash up on the beach to this day. A Coast Miwok tribal village stood about two miles south of today’s town of Marshall, near the conference center. The village was called etkako’lum in the Miwok dialect of the Penutian language family. Historians estimate more than 3,000 Coast Miwok lived in Marin and Sonoma villages. Euroamerican Incursion In 1817, Franciscan missionaries claimed the Marin peninsula and built Mission San Rafael, converting native people to their religion and using them as a labor force. Most Coast Miwok people died from contagious diseases that spread quickly in the missions’ close living conditions . After the missions were secularized (released from religious influence) in 1834, Mexican Governor José Figueroa Coast Miwok tule boat, 1815 Courtesy of The Bancroft Library promised to the surviving Miwok an 80,000acre land grant at Nicasio — from Tomales Bay to today’s San Geronimo. Meant as reparation for the loss of their tribal lands, this property was never formally deeded to the Miwok people. After years of delay, General Mariano Vallejo granted this land to five Miwok members on October 14, 1844. The next day, Vallejo’s nephew, former California governor Juan Bautista Alvarado, “bought” the land grant from these Miwok owners. The Miwok signed a deed in return for Vallejo’s promise to pay them $1,000. The Miwok never received their money, nor did they know that two months before, then-Governor Manuel Micheltorena had legally granted most of this promised land to two other people. Rocky, steep, undesirable land at Graton in Sonoma County was eventually given to the Miwok, but some surviving tribe members chose to labor for others at Nicasio. Others lived in nearby houses built on pilings over Tomales Bay, selling harvested shellfish to make ends meet. Coast Miwok and some Southern Pomo formed the Federated Coast Miwok in 1992. This blended tribe’s federal recognition was officially restored as the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria in 2000. Today’s members, all descended from the original tribes, honor the homeland of their ancestors and work to revive the Miwok language and customs for future generations. Gu gl ielmo Marcon i (1874 - 1937) In 1896, at age 22, Guglielmo Marconi received the first radio patent on his wireless system, using electromagnetic waves to transmit telegraphic messages. Bui